Boyfriend reads private chats

My boyfriend recently woke me up in the middle of the night, holding my phone and furiously demanding an explanation for some WhatsApp messages I had exchanged with a male friend. I was shocked to see him scrolling through our conversation, which I had never shared with him. He insists that couples should have no secrets and that since I had previously shared my phone password with him, he had every right to read my messages. I disagree because I never gave him permission to go through my private conversations. Does my boyfriend have any legal right to access my WhatsApp messages?

JP, Mbeya

That is certainly an unpleasant way to be woken up! Article 16(1) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, 1977 guarantees the right to privacy, including the protection of private communications. Being in a romantic relationship does not automatically deprive a person of this right or entitle their partner to access private communications without permission. Further, section 4(1) of the Cybercrimes Act, Cap. 443 prohibits intentional and unlawful access to a computer system. Under section 3 of the Act, access includes retrieving data from a computer system. Accordingly, accessing another person’s mobile phone to read their private WhatsApp messages without authorisation may constitute an offence under the Act.

In your circumstances, the fact that you previously shared your phone password with your boyfriend does not necessarily mean that you authorised him to access your private conversations. Whether his conduct constitutes an offence would depend on the nature and scope of the permission granted and whether his access to the messages was unlawful. Therefore, your boyfriend cannot justify accessing your private messages merely on the basis that you are in a relationship or that you have nothing to hide. Suspicion of infidelity does not, in itself, confer legal authority to access another person’s private communications.